Musical instrument

ABSTRACT

A musical instrument comprises sonorous bars arranged in sequence of pitch in the chromatic or diatonic scale. Above the bars is replaceably mounted a flexible band of material with a musical staff and musical notes indicated on the staff. The notes correspond to respective bars, and the notes are manually struck with a hammer to strike the bar therebeneath and produce a tone corresponding to the note indicated in the staff on the band.

Elite States Patent .lalsuhovicz [54] MUSICAL INSTRUMENT [72] Inventor: Jose Jakubovicz, c/o Cust'odio de Almeida & Cia., P.O. Box 3386-ZC-00, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [22] Filed: July 14,1969 1211 Appl.No.: 841,339

151 I lnt. Cl. ..G09b 15/04 I58] Field of Search ..84/402, 403, 404, 406, 470, 84/471 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,392,766 10/1921 Huth ..84/47O 2,434,137 1/1948 Zimmerman ..84/403 1 Feb. 15,1972

Primary ExaminerRichard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin Attorney-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen 1 1 ABSTRACT A musical instrument comprises sonorous bars arranged in sequence of pitch in the chromatic or diatonic scale. Above the bars is replaceably mounted a flexible band of material with a musical staff and musical notes indicated on the staff. The notes correspond to respective bars, and the notes are manually struck with a hammer to strike the bar therebeneath and produce a tone corresponding to the note indicated in the staff on the band.

l 1 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures mm 1 s 1912 641 SHEET 1 BF 3 PATENTEU EB 15 I97? 3.641.864

SHEET 2 [IF 3 PATENIEDFEB 15 I912 SHEET 3 OF 3 MUSICAL INSTRUMENT BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a musical instrument and particularly to an instrument which can be utilized in teaching the reading ofmusic.

An object of the invention is to provide an instrument which will have utility in teaching the reading of music by providing the capability of simultaneously viewing musical notes on a staff and producing corresponding sounds. Thereby, there is immediate knowledge of the musical notes in the staffwith the corresponding sounds.

' The invention contemplates the juxtaposition of sonorous bars and a flexible band with the musical staff and notes. The notes are indicated in the staff in the given clef, each musical note in the staff being placed opposite a corresponding sonorous bar; when a musical note is struck by a hammer or the like, the sound corresponding to the musical note indicated on the staff is produced by a striking of the bar adjacent the note.

Thus, by striking the musical notes on the band, corresponding sounds are produced by the vibration of the bars, since each bar corresponds to the sound of the note indicated on the staff.

The sonorous bars may be arranged in sequence in the chromatic or diatonic scales and a plurality of replaceable bands may be utilized having different clefs, in the chromatic or diatonic scales.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a plan view of an arrangement of sonorous bars in chromatic scale;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a flexible band which can be superposed on the bars of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of another flexible band which can be superposed on the bars of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of beaters or hammers for use with the instrument;

FIGS. 5 and 5' diagrammatically illustrate the operation of the instrument utilizing the bands of FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are plan views of further embodiments of flexible bands;

FIGS. 8 and 8' diagrammatically illustrate the operation of the instrument utilizing the bands of FIGS. 6 and 7;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of an arrangement of sonorous bars in diatonic scale, and

FIGS. 10 and 11 are plan views of flexible bands which can be superposed on the bars of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing, therein are seen sonorous bars 1 arranged in sequence of pitch of sounds i.e., frequency, according to the chromatic scale. Each bar corresponds to one sound or tone of the musical scale. The ends 2 of the bars on one side are in a straight line and on the other, the ends 3 are aligned along an oblique line.

FIG. 2 shows a band 4 of plastic, or paper, or cloth, or other flexible material containing the musical staff 5 with the musical notes indicated in the staff in the G clef on the second line. FIG. 3 shows a band 6 containing the musical staff 7 with the musical notes indicated in the staff in the F clef on the fourth line.

FIG. 4 shows beaters or hammers 8 that are engaged in the hands to produce percussion of the bars by striking the musical notes on the musical staff of the band.

The musical scales on the bands 4 and 6 are the chromatic scales with the natural notes and the altered notes (sharps or flats and naturals).

The bands 4 and 6 can be separate, or can be integral with one face with the G clef on the second line and the opposite face with the F clef on the fourth line.

When the musical scale is chromatic as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, equal spaces are provided between the natural and altered notes of the band whether or not they have intermediate altered notes by reason of the juxtaposition of the natural and altered notes of the chromatic scale in the musical staff of the band with the bars of the chromatic scale.

The chromatic scale is shown ascending but it can also be descending; the length of the scale is variable and depends on the size of the instrument. The bars.2 are in the same plane with the sequence of the natural notes and altered notes contained within the same lines of the ends of the sonorous bars in a single progression. It is also possible for the bars to be disposed in different planes.

FIGS. 5 and 5' show an external box 10 of rectangular or of other appropriate form, and the assembly of sonorous bars I is disposed in the box and covered with respective flexible bands 4 and 6. The bands are mounted opposite the bars in sequence of pitch of the sounds. Thus, each musical note of the band corresponds to a sonorous bar of the musical scale, that is, for each musical note of the staff in the band there corresponds a bar to permit the percussion by the heaters.

In operation, the heaters 8 are held in the hands and a downward movement is made, as indicated by the arrows, to cause the beaters to strike the musical notes indicated in the musical staff of the flexible band and produce striking of the bars therebeneath which produce the musical sounds corresponding to the musical notes of the staff. As evident from FIGS. 2 and 3, the band is continuous through the notes, i.e., substantially nonapertured thereat so that the bars are struck through the intermediary of the band.

Other bands can also be utilized with other musical staffs with the F clef on the third line, or the C clef on the first line, or the C clef on the second line, or the C clef on the third line, or the C clef on the fourth line, or even a mixed clef. The bands are replaceable on the box by simple substitution.

Referring to FIG. 6, the band contains the staff in the G clef on the second line and FIG. 7 shows a band containing the musical staff in the F clef on the fourth line.

The musical scale on the bands is the diatonic with natural notes.

The diatonic musical scale used provides a larger space between those natural notes of the band that have intermediate altered notes, and a smaller space between the natural notes that do not have intermediate altered notes by the juxtaposition of the natural notes of the diatonic scale in the musical staff of the bands with the bars 1 of the chromatic scale.

The instrumentwith the diatonic scale is played as shown in FIGS. 8 and 8 in a manner similar to that as described for FIGS. 5 and 5.

The bands can be separate, or the staffs and notes can be placed on opposite surfaces of the same band with the G clef or the F clef.

FIG. 9 shows an arrangement of bars 1 arranged in the diatonic scale with natural notes with equal spacing between the bars. FIGS. 10 and 11 show the bands which are used with the bars of FIG. 9, the scale on the band in FIG. 10 being in G clef and that on the band in FIG. 11 being in F clef.

What is claimed is:

l. A musical instrument comprising sonorous bars arranged in sequence of pitch, a flexible band of material with a musical staff and musical notes indicated on the staff, said band being substantially nonapertured at said notes, means mounting the flexible band in juxtaposed relation above said bars, and percussion means for striking the flexible band at the musical notes on the musical staff to strike the bars therebeneath and produce for each note, corresponding to a bar, the sound corresponding to the musical note indicated in the staff on the band.

2. An instrument according to claim 1 wherein said sonorous bars are arranged in sequence in the. chromatic scale.

3. An instrument according to claim 2 wherein said flexible band is plastic with the chromatic scale in sequence of pitch of the natural and altered notes and the musical notes indicated in the staff in a given clef in superposition with the sonorous bars of the chromatic scale, the chromatic scale being ascending or descending and of variable length corresponding to the size of the instrument.

4. An instrument according to claim 2 wherein said flexible band is plastic with the diatonic scale in sequence of pitch of the natural notes with the musical notes indicated in the staff in a given clef with a larger space between the natural notes of the band that have intermediate altered notes and a smaller space between the natural notes that do not have intermediate altered note in superposition with the sonorous bars of the chromatic scale, the diatonic scale being ascending or descending and of variable length corresponding to the size of the instrument.

5. An instrument according to claim 2 wherein the sonorous bars of the chromatic scale are in the same plane with the sequence of the natural and altered notes contained within the same lines of the ends of the sonorous bars in a single progression.

6. An instrument according to claim 1 wherein said sonorous bars are arranged in sequence in the diatonic scale.

7. An instrument according to claim 6 wherein said band is provided with the diatonic scale in sequence of pitch of natural notes with the same space between the natural notes, said sonorous bars being in the same arrangement of the diatonic scale, the diatonic scale being ascending or descending and of variable length corresponding to the size of the instrument.

8. An instrument according to claim 1 comprising a box receiving said bars, said flexible band being mounted on said box at an open face thereof in juxtaposition with the bars.

9. An instrument according to claim 1 wherein bands are provided with the G clef and the F clef.

10. An instrument according to claim 1 comprising a plurality of replaceable bands respectively having the musical staff with the musical notes indicated on the staff in the F clef on the third line, the C clef on the first line, the C clef of the second, the C clef on the third line, the C clef on the fourth line.

11. An instrument according to claim 1 wherein said sonorous bars are aligned with the ends on one side thereof in a straight line and on the other side along an oblique line. 

1. A musical instrument comprising sonorous bars arranged in sequence of pitch, a fleXible band of material with a musical staff and musical notes indicated on the staff, said band being substantially nonapertured at said notes, means mounting the flexible band in juxtaposed relation above said bars, and percussion means for striking the flexible band at the musical notes on the musical staff to strike the bars therebeneath and produce for each note, corresponding to a bar, the sound corresponding to the musical note indicated in the staff on the band.
 2. An instrument according to claim 1 wherein said sonorous bars are arranged in sequence in the chromatic scale.
 3. An instrument according to claim 2 wherein said flexible band is plastic with the chromatic scale in sequence of pitch of the natural and altered notes and the musical notes indicated in the staff in a given clef in superposition with the sonorous bars of the chromatic scale, the chromatic scale being ascending or descending and of variable length corresponding to the size of the instrument.
 4. An instrument according to claim 2 wherein said flexible band is plastic with the diatonic scale in sequence of pitch of the natural notes with the musical notes indicated in the staff in a given clef with a larger space between the natural notes of the band that have intermediate altered notes and a smaller space between the natural notes that do not have intermediate altered note in superposition with the sonorous bars of the chromatic scale, the diatonic scale being ascending or descending and of variable length corresponding to the size of the instrument.
 5. An instrument according to claim 2 wherein the sonorous bars of the chromatic scale are in the same plane with the sequence of the natural and altered notes contained within the same lines of the ends of the sonorous bars in a single progression.
 6. An instrument according to claim 1 wherein said sonorous bars are arranged in sequence in the diatonic scale.
 7. An instrument according to claim 6 wherein said band is provided with the diatonic scale in sequence of pitch of natural notes with the same space between the natural notes, said sonorous bars being in the same arrangement of the diatonic scale, the diatonic scale being ascending or descending and of variable length corresponding to the size of the instrument.
 8. An instrument according to claim 1 comprising a box receiving said bars, said flexible band being mounted on said box at an open face thereof in juxtaposition with the bars.
 9. An instrument according to claim 1 wherein bands are provided with the G clef and the F clef.
 10. An instrument according to claim 1 comprising a plurality of replaceable bands respectively having the musical staff with the musical notes indicated on the staff in the F clef on the third line, the C clef on the first line, the C clef of the second, the C clef on the third line, the C clef on the fourth line.
 11. An instrument according to claim 1 wherein said sonorous bars are aligned with the ends on one side thereof in a straight line and on the other side along an oblique line. 